[IPSM] Attacks by Paramilitaries on the Community of La Soledad, Sola de Vega

[mandeep]

Latest CIPO Communiqué on the Attacks by
Paramilitaries on the Community of La Soledad, Sola de
Vega
 
Santa Lucia del Camino, Oaxaca, July 25, 2005

 To All Those Who Love Liberty

To The Men and Women of Good Heart:

 Once again, the communities that make up the Popular
Indigenous Council of Oaxaca-Ricardo Flores Magón
(CIPO-RFM), are victims of the injustice, the violence
and the oppression by the government of Ulises Ruiz
Ortiz.

 Since June 13, our brothers and sisters of La Soledad
community, Sola de Vega are being held captive by
paramilitaries of the San Cristobal Agency of the
Villa Sola de Vega District, comanded by Melchor Silva
López. They are treating us worse than animals, our
only crime is defending our mother earth and making
our own autonomy.

The paramilitaries from the PRI and PAN parties have
made two blockades; one in the only entrance after the
detour of the highway Puerto Escondido and the other
crossing the river, towards La Soledad; each one of
the blockades is being guarded by atleast 50 men armed
with machetes, sticks, dobermen dogs, short and long
fire arms; and a chain that prevents access to the
path. Every person or vehicle that passes by there is
surrounded and harassed with questions, they demand
the identification of everyone, especially of those
people they do not know, because there is the threat
that if a member of the CIPO-RFM enters in the
community they will kim him/her, as they were going to
do with Andrés.

This was confirmed on July 21. Desperate to know if
our comrades of La Soledad are still alive; distressed
by whether they have food and if those who are sick
are receiving attention; and despite the threats, a
commission of CIPO-RFM comrades went to La Soledad.

They arrived on a pick up truck, which had no sign
that they were from the CIPO-RFM, they were surrounded
by more than 50 men armed with machetes, sticks, and
fire arms. The paramilitaries asked that the CIPO
members identify themselves and asked where they were
going. They responded they were going to a party to
the neighboring community of Minas. The paramilitaries
said they could go there but not to La Soledad,
beacause there was “a problem”.  They continued to ask
questions like who did they know from that community,
and they were starting to have doubts, threats and
warnings were given. The armed men threatened that
they could be arrested in any moment if they did not
say the truth. The CIPO members insisted they were
headed to Minas and they let them go.

They crossed the rain swollen river until they reached
the second blockade. There, another group of about 40
men, also armed with machetes and with two dobermen,
and short and long firearms, guard the chain that
prevents access to the path. The armed men  took away
the chain, in order to let the comrades pass, when
they heard a whistle and the chain was again laid out
on the path. The paramilitaries started saying the
members were lying and they demanded they identify
themselves eventhough the members denied being from
the CIPO-RFM. The paramilitaries did not allow the
comrades to enter and they had to leave because they
wanted to arrest them, what saved them was the
presence of our comrade an international observer.

 

Out of all the paramilitaries, they identified
Apolinar García, aka “poli”, known by the inhabitants
of La Soledad for being a gunman.

Up until today, our comrades of La Soledad have been
able to leave their community by using non transited
paths and are putting their lives in danger, by
crossing the river in this rainy season: the river is
big and dangerous, they also have to do this in the
middle of the night or very early in the morning so
that the paramilitaries do not see them.

Today, at three in the morning, three women crossed
the dangerous river to get food and medicine, but we
have not heard from them since, but we do know, that
those murderes, the paramilitries are watching and
closing the paths.

Their intention is to isolate our comrades, starve
them to death and fear, to submit them, silence them,
to stop them from being CIPOs, to stop them from
organizing, to stop them from demanding their rights.

All this is known to the Governor of State, the
Attorney General of Justice, the Municipal President,
the Government Delegate, the Public Minister of Villa
Sola de Vega, the State Commission for Human Rights in
Oaxaca and the National Commission for Human Rights,
who have not intervened to solve this injustice, or to
guarantee the lives of our brothers and sisters. By
not acting against these evident violations of
individual and collective human rights, they are
accessories and will be directly responsible for any
events that could take place like an assassination of
one of our brothers or sisters from La Soledad.

 

Sincerely,

 

For the Reconstitution and Free Assosiation of Peoples

Consejo Indígena Popular de Oaxaca- Ricardo Flores
Magón

CIPO-RFM 

"Our system is one of detachment: to keep silenced people from asking questions, to keep the judged from judging, to keep solitary people from joining together, and the soul from putting together its pieces." (Eduardo Galeano)
"Sigan ustedes sabiendo que, mucho más temprano que tarde, se abrirán las grandes alamedas por donde pase el hombre libre, para construir una sociedad mejor." (Salvador Allende, 11 de sept. 1973)


	

	
		
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